Council want to house us opposite paedos!!

[Ilovepugs2017]

I’ll try and cut a long story short.
We are at risk of homelessness due to our landlord wanting to sell. Our section 21 ran out in July.
we have been bidding on properties every week with no luck.
The council bid on a property on our behalf in our local area (for personal reasons I didn’t bid on this particular property - issues with threats of assault from someone living on the same street as the one advertised).
anyway we were no.2 in the queue and couldn’t withdraw the bid which gave me huge anxiety. I’d even emailed the housing officer to say I didn’t bid for personal reasons.
2 weeks later which is today they have called and offered us the property. They have said if we refuse to take it they will help us no further!!
my partner has been to speak to a couple of the neighbours and they have said to be warned that a couple of convicted paedos live opposite the back entrance!

we have three young children how is this acceptable?
Im going to refuse the house and appeal!
anxiety is through the roof!! :(
anyone been through similar?

Obviously I don’t want that at all.
I’ve never been in this situation before so it’s been useful to get some advice of SOME of the people here.
Im thinking I’m better off taking the property and maybe seeking advice about asking for a review based on safety concerns with the threats?

I've been renting for 18 years, so not even a new thing!

I think some people on here have no idea what life is life for others. Not having a career isn't unusual, and the Council will tell you to stay put when you've been served notice too. And you can't always join the housing register in other areas, a lot of places you have to have 'local ties'.

Anyway @Ilovepugs2017 I'd take the house, let the housing know about the threats from sisters ex and call them again the second he causes an issue (if he does that is)

Hmm yes and you think we didn’t think of this?
There comes a point however when the leak is too bad for a patch of masking tape to solve the issue!

Then you call a plumber and bill it to your landlord. It's not difficult at all. For grownups.

Well yes, of course you didn’t think if it or you’d not have been banging on up above about it not having been done because it wasn’t your responsibility.

And masking tape? Dear God…

Exactly, they don’t. They just assume. They own their own properties have well paid jobs etc and think that entitles them to assume how other people live 😬 anyway…
Thank you for seeing things from my perspective. Means a lot that someone has taken the time to try and understand things from a different angle.
yep your right they have literally told me to stay here until I get served an eviction notice from the courts otherwise I’d be making myself ‘intentionally homeless’.

yep I think that’s a good plan 👍🏻 Thank you 🙏

Your the one who said about masking tape hun 🤣🤣

🤣

Some of these posts are just awful. The OP is in a genuinely difficult position with the threat of homelessness looming over her and her children and the best some people can do is throw blame and insults at her.

Thankfully there are some constructive responses aswell. I really hope that these drown out the voice from the nasties on here.

Oh dear petal, no, I really didn’t. At this point I hope that you do turn the house down.

Op I know you are very focused on your anxiety about living near child sex offenders.

Start thinking about your anxiety if you are homeless and your children are in care. And the Council has no obligation to assist you because you have turned down this home. So you have to get a private rental. Which will be hard because of your low income and no guarantor.

Really think about that. Take the house. You can safeguard your children. It is unlikely to be true anyway. You will be in the Council system and be able to look for a house swap. Having your kids in a secure home is what’s best for your kids. Why are you willing to risk them going into care???

Take the house.

Her and her husband are the only ones to blame here.

The fact your calling me an idiot when I’m not one. You & still going strong today make a good team 😉

Honestly just leave the thread now bored of your responses imo. 🙃

Eh?? Jesus Christ.

Thank you 🙏
I am taking the constructive responses on board and ignoring the awful ones in between replying for my own amusement because some people are so bloody nasty. Let’s hope they are nicer in real life eh?
😌

I’m glad that some people have been helpful on this thread. Anxiety is awful, it makes us our own worst enemy sometimes, have you spoken to your GP about it?

It does sound like your best option is to take the property and aim for it to be short term. Keep a close eye on your kids and put them in the front bedrooms. Rumours about these things are often like chinese whispers and untrue and there are paedophiles that haven’t been caught in all communities all any of us can do is safegauard our kids as much as possible.

Mumsnet can be a difficult place to ask for advice sometimes, it’s easier to focus on the helpful advice and ignore the rest. Everyone has an opinion but you are the only one who knows your life and believe me, no one is perfect.

It’s “you’re.”

If you want shout about being intelligent then you need to check your English in those posts.

I’m intrigued now, what’s the college course in?

Do me a favour and go respond to someone else can’t be bothered to even reply to you anymore. 😌

Firstly, I don't know what area you are in but I'm amazed that from the section 21.... To now, that you are even at the stage where you are able to bid.
Post section 21 you have to wait until it has gone to court and bailiffs are granted the right to evict you.

Hence being homeless.

In my area it took a further 6 months in temp accomodation before we were given a house.

I say given, because even though it's a bit of a dump, it's ours. I cried with relief when I was given the keys, I wasn't going to argue with anyone about anything.

I'm single - you have a partner, so think yourself extra lucky.

If you are not adult enough to deal with a few threats 🙄 and cannot cope with the fact that there may be paedophiles in the vicinity, then you and your partner will have to work to pay privately where you can pick and choose.

The thing is, we were giving her constructive advice. My initial response stated I feel for her, the paedo thing is likely untrue and that she should probably accept the house as a stepping stone.
OP then dripfed all sorts of info, told us that she wasn’t prepared to take the house and got shirty and sarcastic with people. Understandable as it’s not a great situation to be in and we all act poor under those circumstances.
Now posters are literally saying the exact same as we initially did and OP is grateful for their constructive advice. The exact same advice.
OP does have to take some responsibility. Yes, there’s a lot of sheer luck and bad luck involved here, but at what point do you say enough is enough? There’s a house being offered. She needs to take it. The paedo thing, if true (highly unlikely) is not even a legitimate reason to turn down a house. Yes, gross, but safeguard the kids and there’ll be no issue. Same with the sisters ex, unfortunate situation but if anything escalates then inform the police.

it is not ideal, we all recognise and sympathise, but she needs a house, there’s a house.

I’m not willing to risk that. I never would.
I just needed to rationalise things because my anxiety was 1000mph.
I know I’m lucky to have even been offered a place I just need to look at it as hopefully being short term and to speak to the council about the issues I’ve got with the threats etc so they are fully aware of the situation

This post is useful advice. Thank you 🙏 ☺️ I appreciate it.